Brendan Neil loses appeal bid to reduce sentence over killing of Simone Quinlan
An ice-addled monster who tortured and beat his partner to death because she “snitched” to police about his domestic abuse towards her, ironically tried to get a lesser sentence by turning snitch himself.
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An ice-addled monster who tortured and beat his partner to death because she “snitched” to police about his domestic abuse towards her, tried to get a lesser sentence by turning snitch himself.
The Herald Sun can reveal, after a suppression order was lifted today, that Brendan Neil, 31, ironically offered to assist the prosecution in nailing his co-offender Wayne Marmo.
His last-minute motion on the eve of his trial was not taken up by police.
Neil, 31, from Melton, was jailed for 26 years after mother of two Simone Quinlan, was bashed, shot and dumped in a mineshaft where her body was set alight in August 2015.
Facing the Court of Appeal last week in an attempt to get his jail term reduced, the remorseless killer tried to say the sentencing judge did not give him a big enough discount for his offer to turn traitor, or his guilty plea to murder.
But Justices Phillip Priest, David Beach and Terence Forrest today rejected his big to get out of jail sooner, ruling it was his conduct that was “at the heart of this horrific offending”.
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Neil tied Ms Quinlan up in the loungeroom of his home, torturing her by wrapping her head in tape and telling her she “looked beautiful like that” before ripping it off.
Neil then repeatedly kicked and punched her to the head with such force she was unconscious and unable to defend herself — all while his mate, Wayne Marmo, was watching.
Marmo, 25, was jailed for 22 years for his involvement.
As Neil rushed to the pub to get himself on CCTV for an alibi, Marmo drove Ms Quinlan’s body to Kangaroo Flat in Bendigo, where he shot her in the head five times before throwing her into a mineshaft and setting her alight.
It could not be determined if she had already died before the shots were fired.
Neil’s lawyer Richard Edney had argued parity between the sentences of Neil and Marmo.
He said Neil’s 11th-hour guilty plea during pre-trial arguments, as well as an offer to assist the prosecution in nailing Marmo for the crime, should have seen him get less of a sentence than Marmo, who pleaded not guilty and went to trial where he was found guilty of murder.
“He was entitled to a substantial discount,” Mr Edney said.
But the Court of Appeal judges were quick to point out it was Neil who instigated the bashing, and came up with the plan, alongside Marmo, to “get rid of” her body.
“If your client hadn’t beaten her within an inch of her life because she was a ‘snitch’, she would still be alive,” Justice Beach quipped.
Justice Forrest added that Neil was “very much a major player” in the savage killing.
In their written ruling, the judges said: “But for the applicant’s anger with, and treatment of, Ms Quinlan, the offending and her ultimate death would not have occurred.
“We are similarly unpersuaded that the applicant’s late plea of guilty, in the circumstances of this case, required the judge to impose some lesser sentence than the sentence she imposed on Marmo.”
The decision brought much relief to Ms Quinlan’s heartbroken parents, Wayne and Lynda, who have sat through every court case seeking justice for their daughter in what they described as a “one-sided” justice system.
“There is a lot wrong with our system of justice. It is a very, very hard process to follow,” Mr Quinlan said.
“For us, it has been a lot of ups and downs. The system is not user friendly, victim friendly.
“But we are now at the end of the court process, we hope, and as a family we can now do our best to honour Sim and move on.”
Ms Quinlan had only been dating Neil for four months.
Weeks before her death, she had reported him to police after she required stitches to her head when he attacked her with a baseball bat. He had also thrown a rock through a window at a home she had sought refuge.
Neil will be eligible for parole after 22 years while Marmo will serve a minimum 20 years in jail.